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Dumping paint down storm drain crosses the line: The Fixer

Anyone who works with paint should know better than to dump it into a catch basin on the street.

A small amount of the wrong stuff poured in a catch basin can be trouble, as we wrote Feb. 21, when petroleum fumes came up through the floor drain of a Hill Cr. home and almost drove out the residents.

White paint was dumped down a storm drain at the same time as new white stop lines, seen in background, were painted at the intersection of Avonewick Gate and Beveridge Dr. (JACK LAKEY / TORONTO STAR)

We traced it to a nearby catch basin, where it was obvious a petroleum-based fluid had been dumped into it and could also be smelled in other basins along the street.

The city investigated and took samples, but couldn’t determine the cause of the odour, which lingered for weeks in the home and local catch basins.

So when white paint suddenly appears on a storm grate at the same time as new white lines on the road a few metres away, we wonder if the neighbours can smell paint through their floor drains.

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Chloe Sterrett emailed to say white stop lines were just painted onto the pavement at Avonwick Gate and Beveridge Dr., near York Mills Rd. and Victoria Park Ave.

“I was walking home from school and couldn’t help but notice that the drainage grate was also covered in paint,” said 15-year-old Sterrett.

“It looks to me that the workers had a little bit too much paint, so they thought they would dump it down the drain.

“I’m pretty sure that’s bad for the environment. If I can’t leave my grass (clippings) at the side of the road to be picked up, and they can pour toxic paint down the drain, then there’s a problem.”

We spotted a layer of paint on one side of the storm grate, and peered down inside, where we could see more paint splattering two sides of the chamber beneath.

It’s hard not to conclude that someone on the road painting crew dumped some down the drain. If that’s the case, it may not be the first time, and could happen again.

STATUS: Allen Pinkerton, who’s in charge of traffic signs and markings for transportation services, said he’s trying to figure out if a contractor or one of the city’s own crews applied the lines, and if the paint on the drain matches the paint used on the road. Pinkerton stressed that a water-based paint is now used for road lines, which is not toxic, unlike the old petroleum-based paints. If his inquiries determine that road paint went down the drain, whoever did it will be told to never do it again, he said.

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